Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) has reported a 37 per cent drop in its consolidated net profit at Rs.606 crore in the first quarter (Q1) ended June 30, 2015, against Rs.966 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The company said figures were not comparable as the net profit for the corresponding quarter of the previous year included disinvestment gains of Rs.1,383 crore.
“In fact we have done better in this quarter if you consider the exceptional gains on account of disinvestment of Dhamra Port and stake sale in L&T Infotech in Q1 last year. We had suffered losses about Rs.700 crore in the hydrocarbon business in the Middle East. Actually, the net profit of Q1 last year should have been around Rs.350 crore.,” said R. Shankar Raman, Whole Time Director and Chief Financial Officer, L&T.
“One has to judge our Q1 performance under the backdrop of the current business environment which continues to remain tentative and investment shy,” Mr. Raman added. During the quarter, L&T reported consolidated gross revenue of Rs.20,460 crore as compared to Rs.19,123 crore in the same period last year, up 7 per cent. EBITDA was down 9 per cent as some of the businesses under-performed.
“In the first quarter, we have done reasonably well. We are on track for the second quarter and we remain cautiously optimistic about the future,” said S. N. Subrahmanyan, Whole Time Director & Senior Executive Vice-President, L&T. On the outlook L&T said, “Favourable conditions for containment of fiscal deficit and monetary policy management are expected to enthuse an investment friendly framework. The investment climate however, remains subdued in the backdrop of global uncertainties and unhurried pace of reforms in India.”
Meanwhile, Subramanian Sarma has been appointed as MD & CEO of L&T Hydrocarbon and Non-Executive Director of L&T.
